Lansing - With so much riding on Tuesday night's game, it appeared the Lugnuts were in danger of folding to the Quad City River Bandits.

But Lansing designated hitter Donny Hood was not about to let that happen.

With the Lansing (36-25) trailing 4-3 in the sixth inning, Hood hit the only home run of the night to put the Lugnuts ahead for good.

The game started well for the Lugnuts when in the second inning, Lansing took its first lead of the night off a wild pitch by River Bandits starter Jason Miller. The error proved costly as Lugnuts left fielder Jason Fransz scored on the play.

Lansing starter Yorkin Ferreras was a bit shaky in the early going but warmed up in the third inning, striking out two batters. It wouldn't last long as Ferreras began to struggle and quickly lost momentum.

Both teams struggled to get anything going offensively in the early stages. It wasn't until the sixth inning when both teams went on a scoring run.

The River Bandits began the offensive attack and comeback early in the sixth with Quad City third baseman Kaulana Kuhaulua belting one to left center, scoring two runs.

River Bandit center fielder Alex Romero hit a single to drive in a run while second baseman Jose Morales hit a double later in the inning to bring in another run and put Quad City ahead 4-1.

With the game appearing to be getting away from them, the Lugnuts countered with a streak of their own in the sixth. Fransz got the scoring drive going with a line drive past third to bring in two runs and bringing the Lugnuts to within one.

The home run by Hood put an end to the scoring in the sixth and gave the Lugnuts the lead of 5-4.

"Fransz hit a great double to score two runs which was huge right then," Hood said. "I was just happy that I was able to put one in play."

Relief pitcher Dan Foli held the River Bandits scoreless and picked up the win.

The Lugnuts added two runs in the eighth inning to put the game away.

"We hadn't had a big inning in awhile," Lugnuts manager Julio Garcia said. "To counter four runs with four of our own really put a spark back in our team."

With a 5-3 loss to the River Bandits Monday night, the Lugnuts were out of first place for the first time since May 18.

The win Tuesday night gave the Lugnuts their best winning percentage for one half of a season. That winning percentage (59 percent) still might not be enough to clinch the Lugnuts one of the two first half play-off spots.

To secure a playoff berth, the Lugs will need to finish in first place in the Eastern division by the June 16 All-Star break. To clinch, the Lugnuts must win three out of the next four games - all against the first-place Fort Wayne Wizards.

"It's tough to go through a full first half in the lead and then to maybe get edged out," Garcia said.